By Your Side
by blancoroja
Summary: [SasuNaru] "You're not other people," Sasuke blurted out without thinking. "You're"—my best friend, my dobe, my…why do I keep thinking of you like you belong to me?—"Naruto." Sasuke-centred; introspective elements.
1. The Valley of Renewal

**A/N:**

My first Naruto fic (well, since I actually learned how to write fic).

This takes place after the Fourth Shinobi World War, and let's say for whatever reason (old time's sake, residual resentment) Naruto and Sasuke had a final fight at the Valley of the End. It's not supposed to be a fight to the death though, because Sasuke has finally realized that Naruto...

Well, you'll see.

* * *

Both of them were drenched in sweat and blood, their shirts were hanging in tatters, and they didn't have enough chakra left to lift a finger. As the rain came down on them, warmer and gentler than that day all those years ago when they had faced each other, when Sasuke had punched a hole through Naruto's chest both literally and figuratively, Naruto started laughing.

"What, did you finally lose that last marble, dobe?" Sasuke scoffed, although he had to fight against his natural impulse to smile too. "Must've been hard to hang onto it for so many years."

"Shut up, teme," Naruto said, but his voice held no rancour. It hardly ever did. "I just kicked your ass, and you're still being a bastard."

"You did not kick my ass," Sasuke huffed, although he was lying on the ground more drained and helpless than he can remember being in the past year. "You just got lucky. Anyway, you can't move either."

"I can move enough to do this," Naruto said, and somehow he dragged his body closer to Sasuke's seemingly through sheer willpower. He raised a trembling arm towards Sasuke, who had no idea what he was about to do but felt no fear, and ran the tip of a sharpened nail across Sasuke's forehead.

He drew a thin trickle of blood, but Sasuke didn't pay it any mind, just looked at Naruto like he was crazy. Well, he probably was.

"What the hell was that for?"

Naruto grinned at him, the sharp-toothed grin he would give after pulling off a particularly good prank. "I've scratched your forehead protector before, but I've never scratched your forehead."

Sasuke snorted; the dobe was really too ridiculous sometimes. Actually make that most of the time. "If you want to scratch someone's forehead, go find Sakura. Now there's a nice big target for you to pick your spot."

"If Sakura-chan heard you making fun of her forehead, she'd punch you all the way to Suna," Naruto told him, very seriously. "Even though she still likes you."

"Does she?" Sasuke felt so tired that he couldn't even keep his eyes open. His eyelids were incredibly heavy, and after one more glance at Naruto and the strange, simple contentment in his eyes, he let them fall shut. He didn't need to look at Naruto to see him, anyway. "I was hoping she'd have gotten over her silly infatuation by now."

"It's not a silly infatuation," Naruto said. "She's in love with you. I have no idea why, considering you obviously have an enormous icicle shoved up your ass – that is, if Orochimaru didn't get rid of it when it got in his way—"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke demanded.

"Exactly what you think it is, SasUKE," Naruto sang, and Sasuke really wished that he had enough energy left to punch Naruto in his stupid face. It wouldn't take much, just one solid hit to shut the dobe's blathering mouth up.

"If I wasn't too tired right now, I'd kill you," Sasuke said. "Slowly and painfully."

"I love you too, Sasuke-chan."

"Che." This time, Sasuke didn't bother fighting against his smile – like Naruto it wasn't going to go away. "I didn't think it was possible, but you've turned into even more of a moron compared to before."

"I didn't think it was possible, but you've turned into even prissier of a bastard."

"Remind me why I didn't just kill you the first time."

"Obviously because you love me too much," Naruto said chirpily, and to Sasuke's utter terror, he wasn't completely off.

Then, after an unexpectedly comfortable and long (for Naruto) silence, Naruto asked a question in a soft (for Naruto) voice. "Sasuke, are you going to come home?"

Sasuke opened his eyes, just a crack, and he purposefully didn't look at Naruto. Instead he trained his eyes on the sky, which was brightening after the cessation of the rain. It was slowly turning from navy to a dazzling cerulean, much like Naruto's eyes.

"Konoha may be your home, but that doesn't mean it's mine."

"It _is_ your home," Naruto said heatedly. "It'll always be your home."

"Why?" Sasuke looked at him this time, faced that blue, blue gaze directly. He may have abandoned his plans of vengeance on Konoha, less because he didn't think the village deserved it but more because he knew that it wasn't what Itachi would have wanted.

And Sasuke cared about what Itachi wanted, even though he was dead. Maybe especially because he was dead. He couldn't give his brother anything other than worry and guilt when Itachi was alive; he was determined to honour his brother's legacy now.

Naruto was the only other person Sasuke actually cared about this way, really. Sure, he liked Kakashi and he was grateful for the things Kakashi taught him, and he didn't mind Sakura so much if she wasn't fawning over him, but Naruto was…different. Naruto was special.

And Sasuke was afraid of what he'd agree to if Naruto asked him.

"Because all the people you care about are there!" Naruto said. "Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, the other guys who became Chūnin and Jōnin while I was busy training. And _me_, of course!" He pointed to his chest like he'd just won some important award.

Sasuke breathed out a quiet laugh. "So much modesty, dobe."

"Eh, I learned from the best," Naruto said, and winked at Sasuke, whose laugh softened into a smile.

"I don't care about them," Sasuke said, slowly shaking his head, grateful that he could at least do that. "Kakashi and Sakura, maybe, but the other people – I don't give a damn about them."

Naruto's bottom lip started to tremble, and then he stuck it out grossly. "What about me, Sasuke? I was in those 'other people'. You don't care about me?"

"You're not other people," Sasuke blurted out without thinking. "You're"—_my best friend, my dobe, my…why do I keep thinking of you like you belong to me?_—"Naruto."

He cleared his throat, looked away from how Naruto was almost literally _glowing_, beaming like he was just told he was given the Hokage title and free ramen for life. "You're a complete moron, and why would you ever think I'd want to come back since I'd have to see more of your stupid face."

"So does that mean you're coming back?"

"…"

Sasuke closed his eyes again, but he couldn't unsee the hopeful look on Naruto's face, and he couldn't unsee how Naruto had looked all those times (it shamed him now that there was a plural) Sasuke had tried to kill him, and he couldn't unsee his last real happy memory, when Naruto had dragged all of them to Ichiraku's after training one day, even Kakashi, and they had sat and talked about meaningless things and tried to sneak peeks under Kakashi's mask and watched with slightly awed disgust as Naruto wolfed down bowl after bowl of ramen like it was his last meal.

"Maybe."

That response, for Sasuke, was really a yes, and as Naruto whooped like a five-year-old high on candy (which was basically his natural state), Sasuke smiled. Faintly, unnoticeably, with the tiniest move of his mouth, but it was real and it was enough.

Because Naruto understood him, even all these years later, and Naruto wanted him back. Naruto wanted Sasuke by his side, and although Sasuke would never admit it, he wanted that too.

It was the only place he'd ever really belonged.

* * *

**A/N:** I started this with the intention of making it a short, multi-chaptered fic, but my inspiration for it fell through and although I have two tiny scattered scenes written, this isn't really going anywhere. I think this stands rather nicely as a oneshot, but on the other hand, I'm reluctant to leave it here. Please tell me what you think? Feedback is like food for a writer's soul.


	2. One Step at a Time

**A/N:** Sorry this chapter is so short. I liked this scene the way it is and I don't want to unnecessarily add to it or put another scene in the chapter to up the word count. Not that I have another scene ready to go...

Our favourite lazy, porn-reading sensei makes his appearance!

* * *

Kakashi was there to greet Sasuke and Naruto, stumbling and leaning on each other to support their weak legs (Sasuke tried to ignore the way Naruto's body was pressed flushed against his in places, but it was like trying to ignore a fire – he knew the flames were bound to consume him eventually), at the gates.

Sasuke was surprised and unsurprised at the same time. Surprised, because Kakashi was alone, while Sasuke had wearily anticipated a tearful and emotional Sakura along with him. Unsurprised, because he had expected Kakashi to be there; the man was late all the time, but he wasn't absent.

Sasuke supposed that it was a miracle Kakashi was there waiting for them rather than the other way around. He didn't take it as a sign of warm welcome though; for all he knew, Kakashi might have simply wanted to beat him up somewhere without witnesses.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto waved exuberantly, a wide smile in place. "I told you I would bring the teme back!"

"Well, look what the fox dragged in," Kakashi drawled, looking at Sasuke rather contemplatively for a long moment.

Naruto nudged Sasuke in the ribs, hard. "Hello, Kakashi," Sasuke said, not bothering to add a –_sensei_. He didn't even call Kakashi by the honorific when he really was his student, and he certainly didn't consider himself Kakashi's student anymore.

"You're looking well, Sasuke," Kakashi said.

Sasuke gave him a look questioning his sanity. "I can barely walk, and I look like I got into a fight with a wild animal." He spared Naruto a glance from the corner of his eye. "Well, actually that part is basically true."

"HEY!"

Kakashi laughed, and Sasuke's mouth twitched up faintly at the corners.

"Why is it that you two can never stop fighting?" Kakashi asked in that lazy, musing voice of his. To his surprise, Sasuke found that it was good to hear it. It was good to know that some things never changed.

"Because he's a bastard," Naruto huffed at the same time as Sasuke replied, "Because he's a moron."

They shot death glares at each other, evenly matched in ferocity.

"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice was serious now.

Sasuke drew his eyes away from Naruto. "What?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed, and his posture seemed to stiffen, his long body drawing taut and tense. Sasuke dropped into a defensive stance automatically, reaching for his sword on instinct, until he realized that a) he was completely unarmed, unless Naruto counted as a weapon hanging off him like a limp noodle and b) he was essentially as helpless as a Genin in his current state and Kakashi could kill him a thousand times over.

Then, it was like the bell test all over again, the thunderclouds clearing to be replaced by sunshine and Kakashi's version of a smile – his eye, the only visible part of his face, curved into a crescent.

"Welcome back." Kakashi ruffled his hair, like he was twelve again, and not a traitor or a missing-nin or a dark young man still unable to shake off his hatred.

Kakashi, never a man of many words, didn't say anything after that. He slung one of Sasuke's arms over his shoulder, and one of Naruto's over his other shoulder, and began the slow trek into the village. Naruto chattered excitedly about how "kicked Sasuke's ass", and how he couldn't wait until Sakura was back from her mission (that explained things, Sasuke thought), and how maybe they should get Tsunade drunk before they brought Sasuke in.

Sasuke, never a man of many words either, occasionally slid in with a sharp retort when Naruto's exaggerations got overboard, but for now he was content to let the dobe blabber on. He found himself relaxing minutely into Kakashi's firm grip, because although he didn't need Kakashi's help (he didn't need anyone's help because he was Uchiha Sasuke and he could take care of himself just fine), he couldn't deny that it was kind of nice.

He couldn't deny that this was kind of nice, walking back to a place where there were people he still cared about, where he had once been wanted and loved. He had thrown that aside in his quest for vengeance; he had thrown parts of himself aside, better parts of himself, and he didn't know if it was too late to recover them, but he wanted to try.

For Naruto, whose eyes were still glowing when he saw Sasuke hobbling beside him. For Kakashi, who had the same smile and hair-ruffling hand for Sasuke even after all that he had done. For Sakura, even, who kept on loving him even when there was nothing left to love.

And for Itachi, because he finally understood now that his brother just wanted him to be safe and happy.

Sasuke stepped up his pace ever so slightly, although it hurt to walk, it hurt to even breathe to be honest, and without saying anything or even seeming to notice, Naruto and Kakashi hastened their stride to match him.

He would take it one step at a time.


End file.
